Best Bang for the Buck Riding Mower for 1.4 acres?

[Carscw]

For those of you with more experience with these things than me, between fender control and pedal control, which do you prefer?

I have both fender and pedal control mowers. I like the fender better you don't have to hold it when doing big yards and easy to control your speed when going around trees

 

[midnite rider]

Fender as mowing mainly requires a single speed so it acts as a cruise control.

 

[My_guy99]

For those of you with more experience with these things than me, between fender control and pedal control, which do you prefer?

Lol, I guess I kinda have both! Foot controls but then I also have the cruise control feature! Thought cruise was standard..

 

[Ric]

I personally believe if you take care of your stuff your stuff will take care of you! Multiple oil changes, Air filter cleaner changes all the small things, grease fittings can go a long way!

I also am a believer in preventative maintenance but only to a point. As a mechanic once told me, a good rule of thumb would be IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT. Some things in some cases are better off left alone than messed with.

 

[My_guy99]

I also am a believer in preventative maintenance but only to a point. As a mechanic once told me, a good rule of thumb would be IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT. Some things in some cases are better off left alone than messed with.

My father told me the same thing but when see others that have the same mowers and have a FAILURE like Trans issues ya probably want to step in and fix that before becomes an issue.

I posted a question about a year ago on this form about anyone having issues but with this Trans no one said a word. On further inspection of through other websites and whatnot I found a lot of issues just with the transmission everyone says the motor last forever but the transmissions are the ones tend to fail!

I then came back to the site and posted the next question of does anyone know how to train change the oil in the hydrostatic transmissions and I received no replies for some reason, probably because no one really knows or is even attempted or probably might have went all the way to that point of don't fix it until it's broke! Then comes the phrase if it ain't broke don't fix it.... At this point looks like it broke that's going to be expensive to fix it

 

[My_guy99]

Oh and another thing the whole if it ain't broke don't fix it! I truly believe in it but when checked online another guy who did the repair actually is was broke and he had to fix it he spent $280 trying to fix it! And all he did was just replaced the gears and bought a couple quarts oil I spent with $20 on some quartz 3 quarts oil I think I can do that!

 

[mullins87]

How do you feel about the foot control? I assume it's like a car where you have to hold it the entire time you mow? Is the gas pedal hard to press? I ask because the gas pedal on the one I sat on at Home Depot seemed nearly as hard to press as the clutch. That's my only issue with this Ariens at this point, I don't want to wear out my leg holding a firm pedal for hours while mowing. I wish it had fender controls.

My White had the fender speed control and only one foot pedal, the forward/neutral/reverse lever was between the seat and steering wheel. To start or stop you pushed the foot pedal, selected either forward or reverse, and then selected your speed with the fender control. Then you slowly released the foot pedal like a clutch. If you wanted to speed up, all you did was to slightly depress the foot pedal and select the new speed. Now, if you were mowing along in, let's say, "5th" gear and you came up to a tree where you needed to slow down to go around the tree, all you had to do was to slightly depress the foot pedal to slow the mower down. Once you were clear of the object, release the pedal completely to return to your predetermined speed. The way that pedal worked was the farther down you pushed it, the slower the mower would go to the point where it would stop. The farther the pedal came up, the faster the mower would go. All the fender control did was to limit how far up the pedal would come. Using the fender control as the predetermined maximum speed, then you never had to touch the pedal except to slow down or stop/reverse direction. I really liked it.

 

[Carscw]

Most all MTDs work this way the shift lever is connected to the brake/clutch pedal. The new ones now work with a pedal on the right side. But the drive set up is still the shift on the go they been using for years. The transaxle / rear end only has forward and reverse your speed is controlled by a variable speed pulley.

 

[Ric]

My father told me the same thing but when see others that have the same mowers and have a FAILURE like Trans issues ya probably want to step in and fix that before becomes an issue.

I posted a question about a year ago on this form about anyone having issues but with this Trans no one said a word. On further inspection of through other websites and whatnot I found a lot of issues just with the transmission everyone says the motor last forever but the transmissions are the ones tend to fail!

I then came back to the site and posted the next question of does anyone know how to train change the oil in the hydrostatic transmissions and I received no replies for some reason, probably because no one really knows or is even attempted or probably might have went all the way to that point of don't fix it until it's broke! Then comes the phrase if it ain't broke don't fix it.... At this point looks like it broke that's going to be expensive to fix it

The thing is your servicing a sealed unit, a unit that is a sealed unit for a reason. The unit your doing preventative maintenance on should out live the mower itself without service or it wouldn't have been a sealed unit in the first place. Your talking about a homeowner unit that probably wont accumulate 30 to 35 hours a year and if your mower has a decent warranty say 3 year 180 hr which ever comes first type of thing it should out live the warranty and if it doesn't it's there problem to fix or replace, if it does out live the warranty chances are good you'll probably never have an issue with the unit for the life of the mower.

 

[My_guy99]

The thing is your servicing a sealed unit, a unit that is a sealed unit for a reason. The unit your doing preventative maintenance on should out live the mower itself without service or it wouldn't have been a sealed unit in the first place. Your talking about a homeowner unit that probably wont accumulate 30 to 35 hours a year and if your mower has a decent warranty say 3 year 180 hr which ever comes first type of thing it should out live the warranty and if it doesn't it's there problem to fix or replace, if it does out live the warranty chances are good you'll probably never have an issue with the unit for the life of the mower.

See this is what I mean about someone talking about something they might not know the whole story about look up the reasons on why hydrostatic transmissions fail and maybe you understand what I'm talking about. When they fail your going to have to spend all this money to have it sent to a service shop and service by them how much money do you want to pay for that!

It says it's a sealed unit to me that means sealed to DEATH! anything with moving parts must be serviced, I don't know what you may be thinking but me sealed units is not a good enough excuse for me!

I called the manufacturer and they told me that they don't feel them prior to leaving the facility they are told by Sears not to feel them that they will fill them themselves! Also I was told that supposedly they use the incorrect weight oil which is definitely not good in my opinion that's hence the reason why they probably fail so early!

Also the manufacturer recommended that I buy another case for the bottom if I wanted to service it again making it easier for me to drain the fill again, two drain plugs one for the pump one for the transfer case!

My want to do your research before you start speaking on something that you might not know about!!!!